


In Brightest Day

by Dokuhan



Category: American Idol RPF, DCU, DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Drama, Fish out of Water, M/M, Minor Character Death, Questioning, Religious Conflict, Romance, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-19
Updated: 2013-04-10
Packaged: 2017-12-05 19:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/727293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dokuhan/pseuds/Dokuhan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a series of events, David disappears while on his mission. Six years later there's a new hero working side by side with Green Lantern (well, one of them).  Things have changed a lot, sometimes for the better...but what happens when it turns for the worst?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where it all starts.

It was just barely six months into his mission when things felt like they were going south. Six months in and still another two before his life changed forever.

Everything started when Elder Madison got sick. He was a good kid, from what David remembered at least, just a few weeks shy of 19 and very dedicated to Heavenly Father and His message. He kept his nose clean, smiled when he was supposed to, and didn’t pester David about his career or being one of the older missionaries. Compared to some of the other guys he had to deal with, Elder Madison was alright.

When he first started complaining about not feeling well, everyone brushed it off as at least homesickness or at the very worst a stomach bug. There would be snide comments about when Elder Madison wouldn’t get out of bed, when he would spend half an hour dry heaving into a wastebasket, or how he would hold his stomach and cry in the middle of the night. David tried to stay out of it at first, not wanting to ruffle any more feathers than he already was or cause a scene.

But as he started to deteriorate more and more, David knew it was more than that. Seeing the other missionaries ignoring what was so plainly in front of them along with his pleas to get their friend help both angered and upset him. Sometimes he just wanted to knock some sense into them, maybe even get a bit aggressive about it. He never did though, he just tried his best (and failed) to persuade the others.

By the time everyone pulled the wool from their eyes and brought Elder Madison to the hospital, it was too late. Somewhere along the way, he had eaten something that he shouldn’t have and gotten some pretty nasty parasites eating away at his system. David never found out which kind exactly, but apparently it had developed to the point where it spread to his liver and caused a whole bunch of other problems. The doctors couldn’t do anything to save him and by the end of the night he was gone.

What had happened changed something in David, somehow. With the Elder’s death, it was almost as if a resolve in David, a belief that if you were good and served God, God would be good to you, started to crack and convolute.  He knew that more often than not bad things would happen to the best people, but to see it in action just made it seem all too real for his liking. Elder Madison was so young and alive, he had so much ahead of him – so much he still had to do, places to go, experiences to be had – and all of it was ripped away just because somebody hadn’t cooked something through all the way.  How could one chance instance manage to make such a big impact?

Everyone else seemed to move on easily though. They wept a few tears, went through the motions, and just…forgot about Elder Madison. Weeks later it seemed like some distant memory, a month later it was like it never happened.

Sometimes David thought he should have left right after it happened, when his testimony had grown weak and he felt it fading away more and more. Every day it felt like a little piece of it would fall away and it would get just a little harder to do what he was supposed to do.

But they were _helping_ people.  They were making things better for people that didn’t have as many opportunities as they did back home, and that was a good thing…wasn’t it? In the long run, wasn’t that what God wanted all of His children to do – take care of and love each other? If he was helping people, he figured it shouldn’t matter how weak his testimony was – it was only two years, and he had a quarter of it already done. All he needed to do was finish the last year and a half and he could get back to music. It should have been easy.

It wasn’t though. Every bit of it made him feel sick. The lying through his teeth, the pretending that everything was okay if one of the other Elders realized his smile faltered just a little, the false reassurances he sent his mother in letters – all of it just made him feel so much worse. The most heartbreaking of it all was losing that connection to God he had only sought to build.

By December it was starting to become too much. He had already written the letter to his parents telling them he was ready to just go home over ten times, and the last one was laying under his pillow – stamped and ready to be mailed. He had practiced the speech he was going to give his stake president in his head for weeks and even though he was too scared to say it so many times before, he knew he finally had to suck it up and just do it. He had made his decision and it was final.

That didn’t mean that he wasn’t a nervous wreck though.

His sleeping patterns had been absolutely messed up from the stress. Because of it, David had taken to sneaking out for walks on his own. It gave him a chance to breathe and get his head back on straight. He would try to pray, take in the sights, and just feel the atmosphere around him.

Looking back on it years later, it was really the perfect set up to what happened next. He had been out too late, in a place and situation he wasn’t really supposed to be. He wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings. It was all too average of a night, just the right situation for something not-so-average.

The street was completely empty, except for him. It was quiet enough that David could hear himself breathing, with admittedly more of wheeze than he had come to Chile with.  That’s when he heard it.

It started off like a quiet breeze, before escalating into a loud **_woosh_**. It was loud enough that it made him look to the sky, only to see a bright blue-ish purple light falling down, straight at him.

He panicked at first, throwing his arms up to cover his face and head from whatever it was that was flying at him. His first thought was the it was maybe the wrath of God, sent to punish him for lying about his testimony for so long or maybe even for losing it in the first place. Another thought that crossed his mind that it was just some kind of asteroid and it was just his luck that he was in it’s landing path. Maybe _that_ was why the street was so empty. Because the news had been talking about rocks falling from the sky and because he and the other missionaries isolated themselves they had no idea.

Then it was quiet again and David opened his eyes back up, vaguely wondering when he had closed them. He could feel warm light on his arms and slowly dropped them to see where it was coming from.

Before him floated a glowing ring. It was the same purple-blue color as the light in the sky, and up close David could tell it was indigo, with a circle in the middle in between two arrows – one pointing up and the other pointing down.

He became entranced by it, feeling something warm spread in his chest.

“David Archuleta of Earth,” the ring said in this voice that sounded both mechanical, but ethereal at the same time, “you have the ability to feel great compassion.”

It was like there was a movie projecting in his head, playing every single second of his life. Every good deed, every bad action, whenever he lied or told the truth, when he apologized and when he said things he would always regret saying, and every person he did either right or wrong – everything was there. It made the feeling in his chest alternate from that warm happiness to a clenching guilt. He felt his throat go dry and he couldn’t blink, his eyes just so fixated on the ring and what it was saying in his mind.

“Welcome to the Indigo Tribe.”

He could only remember saying one thing as the light flooded over him and the ring slid onto his finger. It was a soft whisper, but it held so much meaning.

“ _Nok_ …” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...instead of posting this as one magnum opus when it's finally finished, I decided to post this in parts. Bear in mind, this is supposed to take place in a universe that is like our own, only superheroes have always existed. So...if you really want a point when this diverges from our timeline, I guess September 2012? 
> 
> Art by the fabulous nikki_kun05/mabuhaylyn


	2. Among the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> David feels homesick...

David couldn’t really remember how long it had been since that day. How long since he’d even been in Earth’s orbit, let alone the planet itself. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but at the same time he could recall everything about his last day there like it was only yesterday.

Past when the tribe would spend a bit of time on their home planet, they didn’t really stay in one place for very long. They spent a lot of time traveling the corners of the universe, through teleportation and on foot, trying to spread compassion where it was needed.  From simple things to feeding the hungry and clothing the naked, to the more complex like taking down corrupt governments and slave drivers – the tribe did whatever they could to help and went wherever they felt they were needed.

Indigo-1 and Munk were great leaders too, both wise and mysterious at the same time. David always felt like it was an honor to follow them throughout their small group’s travels. He learned so much from the two of them, especially Indigo-1. Whenever he talked with her, the connection felt far more personable than it did with other members and he could be at ease. She helped him through his momentary fears and doubts and kept him guided on their path.

That was why he felt like it was her he could talk to when the idea first crossed his mind. It had been shortly after they returned to Nok, after their most recent trek through Sector 2500.

Earth had been on his mind for what he thought was a couple of weeks (since joining the Tribe, time seemed to pass differently for him), and those thoughts made him a little homesick. Compassion was apparently very rare throughout the universe, so their group was very small and almost family like – but that didn’t change the fact that David had a family that he had left behind on Earth. A family that had no idea where he was and probably thought he was dead.

It actually kind of hurt if he let his mind linger too much on it.

He finally approached Indigo-1 when it became too hard to ignore. David found her meditating in her hut hidden among the thatches of trees and waited patiently for her to acknowledge his arrival. He left his staff at the doorway and sat on the ground across from her.

“Something is on your mind?” She asked in that hauntingly calm way she always spoke, her solid black eyes never leaving him. 

David was pretty sure she knew what he was coming for before he even stepped through the door, but he wound up spilling his guts anyway. “I miss Earth. It’s been a long time…and I’m worried about my family.” He fiddled with a loose thread on his loincloth. “I mean, there’s other things I miss too – like, um, music and the fans and Thai food. I have a lot of friends I left behind and…but it’s mostly my family. I left so suddenly and I don’t know what they were told when I never came back to the mission. I just want to know they’re okay.”

Indigo-1 studied him for a moment before a slight smile spread across her face. She took her staff off her lap and stood onto her feet. “There has always been something special about you, David. You’re not like the rest of us.” She padded across the hut to a small chest. “And not just because you’re from a place so devoid of compassion in this day and age, for more reasons than you even know.” She reached into the chest, rummaging around.

He arched an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

“Going back home…it could be good for you. Maybe you could rub off on your people,” She pulled something out and closed the chest, “or you could find out something more about yourself. Hold out your hand?”

Even though it sounded like a question, David knew what she was telling him to do was more of a command. He held out his hand. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, that you should go. We spread compassion through the universe, but we cannot be everywhere, sometimes we need to go our separate ways to do what’s best.” She crouched down in front of him and placed something in his hand before closing it. “Stay as long as you feel. We’ll always be with you.”

He took his hand back and looked at what Indigo-1 had placed in it. It was a silverish pendant with their tribe’s symbol in the middle. He admired it and looked back up at the woman. “Thank you.” He stood back up as he put the pendant around his neck.

“ _Nok_.”

He nodded and smiled, “ _Nok_.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, there's gonna be no real consistency on how long these chapters are. These two were about 800 words each, but the next few may be in the thousand or more range. Oh, magnum opus.
> 
> Art by the fabulous nikki_kun05/mabuhaylyn


	3. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things changed when David disappeared...

When David had disappeared, his mom and dad had completely freaked out.

Daniel remembered that day way too clearly. He had just come home from his first semester at BYU, hours after having his ass handed to him by his philosophy final. He had been grumpy, but also really happy to be going home for the winter. His dad was actually going to be home for Christmas, waiting for David’s call from Chile and he had been hoping that maybe it would get his parents at least working to being on better terms with each other.

He walked in through the front door and into the living room and found the two of them sitting on the couch – hands clasped and looking older than they had been when he last saw them.  Claudia and Adam were over and the girls were there too, even though they should have been in school. 

His dad had been the one to say it, his voice raspy and obviously close to tears, “David is missing.” 

And all Daniel could remember after that was how it felt like a punch in the gut. 

His parents had refused to let him, Jazzy, or Amber go on missions after that. Jazzy didn’t seem to care too much, and he had actually been kind of relieved since he had found out about the neurobiology program UCLA’s medical school and he wanted to transfer out that way so he could jump on that as soon as humanly possible. Lately though, Amber had been trying relentlessly for her parents to let her go on her own – but they were still standing their ground, afraid to lose another child. 

It had been over six years since David had gone missing and sometimes it seemed like his parents were still stuck in that point of their lives. Hoping their long-lost-son would come home to them, with some explanation about why he had left the mission past lights out and where he had been all this time. Their loss had brought them back together, but sometimes Daniel wished they could just let it go and move on.

Sure, he missed his brother and worried about his parents (he tried to visit them often, even though he had permanently relocated to LA as an undergrad), but he knew there was no way David was coming back. There couldn’t be.

It had finally reached a boiling point shortly after the clock struck midnight for the New Year. After his parents had gone on a spiel of “maybe this will be the year David finally comes home”. Daniel had just blown up at that, and his dad yelled back as his mom sobbed and Amber and Jazzy got out of dodge.

And that’s why he found himself out in the snow with only a hoodie. He shivered hard and pulled it closer to his body. Yeah, he probably shouldn’t have screamed, but his dad had to completely sour a happy moment.

“This is all your fault, you know that, right?” He said to nobody in particular, trying to imagine his brother standing right in front of him. “You had to go and disappear, probably get yourself killed – they’re a complete wreck without you.  Some dumb girl, she sent some stupid letter about you and Mom wouldn’t stop crying about it. Everything’s gone to Hell just because you had to go wandering off – nice going.” Daniel rubbed between his eyes. “If you were here right now, I don’t know what I’d do first, hug you or punch you in the face.”

And then, out of nowhere, there was this sudden burst of purpleish light and a force that knocked Daniel off of his feet. He groaned as his butt fell into the snow, trying to block the fading light from his eyes. “The fu–”

A voice in front of him started talking in this strange language, something vaguely tribal and really familiar at the same time. He moved his hand away from his eyes and felt his jaw literally drop at the sight.

He was well built, wearing only a loincloth that looked tattered around his knees and covered in tribal paint from head to toe. The staff he was carrying glowed the same shade of purple as the light that had almost blinded him and the necklace around his neck matched the symbol painted on his skin – a circle with two arrows coming out of it.

His feet were bare, but he seemed indifferent to the freezing snow below him as he walked closer to Daniel. He reached his left hand, almost as if to see if Daniel was real, and a ring glowed on finger – right where his CTR one had been when Daniel saw him last.

Daniel swallowed and asked, “David…?” 

\--

Awkward wasn’t even close to describing the situation David had managed to create in just a few short minutes. The tension in the room was so thick, a chainsaw probably couldn’t cut through it. 

After the little fiasco outside, Daniel had grabbed David by the wrist and drug him into the house shouting “Mom! Dad! Get down here now!” He didn’t even give David a chance to speak before shoving him down on one of the couches. 

It was black, different from the white one he remembered when he had left on his mission. The carpet looked the same, but definitely a lot more worn, and so did the paint on the walls, but the pictures were different. Things really had moved on without him. 

His parents had come running down the stairs, with Jazzy and Amber trailing not too far behind them. The girls were so much older and had blossomed into these beautiful women while he was gone. His parents on the other hand looked like sixteen years had past, rather than just six. David vaguely wondered when his parents had started living together again and what had brought them back together.

His mom stopped short in front of him, her eyes welling with tears as she covered her mouth. “ _Mi bebé_ …” she said softly, along with a prayer David couldn’t really hear well enough to translate. She touched his cheeks and looked him over, almost as if he wasn’t really there and he had to try his hardest not to burst into tears. 

“ _Mamí_ …” He reached to touch one of her hands, when she suddenly slapped him across the face. He sat there in shock, his mother hadn’t hit him since he was very, very little.

“Where have you been?!” She screamed at him, her voice cracking as the tears streamed down her face. “You disappear all of the sudden and you don’t even bother to call or send us a letter? We didn’t know what happened to you, _mijito_! I thought you were dead!”

“I’m sorry…” He croaked out. 

His mother sniffled a bit and quickly wiped at her eyes. “Where did you go? Where have you been?” 

Okay. He hadn’t really planned for that question. He should have, but some stupid part of him had thought they wouldn’t ask. “Um…in space?” He tried tentatively. 

“…what?” 

“Kind of just, all around the universe. Helping people, foraging for food and clothing, stuff like that?”

His mom didn’t answer. His dad stared at him, before frowning deeply. “David, are you on drugs?”

David gaped at that, “No! Of course not!” He leaned his staff against the couch and reached for their hands. “Listen, I know this sound strange but – I’m part of this thing called the Indigo Tribe. We spread compassion through the universe.”

That didn’t help. His dad’s frown managed to grow deeper. “My son is on drugs and in a cult.”

His mom choked a sob.

“No!” David yelled, “It isn’t a cult! Ugh, how can I explain this. It’s like –” 

“Like a Green Lantern?” Jazzy piped up. 

David grinned at that, glad someone understood. “Yes! Like a Green Lantern! Only Indigo and, um…not as weak?” He kind of hated thinking that way, but it was pretty true. The Green Lantern Corps were strong, but they couldn’t teleport like Tribe or channel the other colors of the Emotional Spectrum. Of course, David had only encountered a Green Lantern once before and had never spoken to one, so he was going off what the others told him.

“So you’re a Superhero!” His sister sounded so excited and jumped onto the couch next to him. In almost an instant she had changed from a 23-year-old woman to an excited 13-year-old. “Did you come back home to defend Earth? I mean, there’s the Justice League and Justice Society and everybody else but – ohmygosh! My older brother is a Superhero!”

David tried to stop her before she got too excited. He _wasn’t_ a superhero, not  really at least, in his mind. He just helped people, he didn’t go around policing or fighting crime. He didn’t even wear a mask or spandex or anything like that! 

“Do you have an archnemesis? What’s his name? Is it a girl?” She was practically bouncing up and down at this point, “We had a bunch of classes about heroes in the anthropology department at school! But I never thought I could meet a real hero, much less have one in my family! Ohmygosh!” 

“If he _is_ a hero, he definitely needs a better costume….” Daniel mumbled, looking him over.

Jazzy stopped rambling long enough to do the same. “Yeah…that’s true. Are you even, um, wearing anything under that?”

Amber made a gagging noise, “Ew! He better be!”

David sighed and put his head in his hands. Well, at least he was home. They could iron out all the details later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeeeeaaaah...told you some of these chapters would be longer than others. 
> 
> Art once again done by the fabulous nikki_kun05/mabuhaylyn!


End file.
